In 1966, a mathematician named [Leo Moser] proposed what sounds like a simple problem: What’s the largest shape you can move through a 1-meter corridor with a right-angle corner? Now, Korean mathematics whiz [Baek Jin-eon] claims to have solved the problem, nearly 60 years later.
The trick is, apparently, the shape of the sofa. By 1968, [John Hammerley] introduced a shape that did better than a rectangle, and by 1992, [Joseph Gerver] proposed something shaped like a phone handset, which remains the largest anyone had found, at 2.2195 square meters.
Of course, these are mathematicians, so it isn’t solved without a proof. That’s what [Baek Jin-eon] claims to have done: proof that the [Gerver] shape is the largest possible.
We won’t pretend to understand the math in the paper, but maybe you will. In all fairness, [Baek] worked on it for seven years. We assume deflating an air sofa and then reinflating it on the other side of the bend would be considered cheating.
We love applying math to seemingly everyday problems. Like, for instance, just how fast is the post office’s eagle? Or even math of a more practical nature.